Capernwray 04-05

posted by Benjamin @ 30.5.06 7 comments

posted by Benjamin @ 29.5.06 1 comments

You are rewarding a teacher poorly if you remain always a pupil. - Friedrich Nietzsche. German classical Scholar, Philosopher and Critic of culture, 1844-1900.

posted by Benjamin @ 29.5.06 1 comments

Some stories are true that never happened. Elie Wiesel

posted by Benjamin @ 28.5.06 2 comments

so when anyone comes to orange county i know of a great place to eat ~ Sidestreet Cafe

posted by Benjamin @ 28.5.06 0 comments

• John W. Gardner

  "Life is the art of drawing without an eraser."

posted by Benjamin @ 27.5.06 2 comments

with great power comes great resposibility

posted by Benjamin @ 27.5.06 0 comments

Eldorado High

posted by Benjamin @ 25.5.06 1 comments

Take My Hand

posted by Benjamin @ 25.5.06 1 comments

new apple store

posted by Benjamin @ 25.5.06 0 comments

If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it. - Jesse Jackson

posted by Benjamin @ 25.5.06 0 comments

posted by Benjamin @ 22.5.06 8 comments

ok peoples, these are chalk drawings that appear to be 3d when veiw at the right angle... check it out. (by the way, the second to last one is viewed at the wrong angle, then the one after that is at the right angle.) crazy huh? Drawn by some dude in England.

posted by Benjamin @ 22.5.06 7 comments

Edinburgh, Scotland

posted by Benjamin @ 21.5.06 0 comments

The Sultans Elephant by Royal Deluxe (London, England)

giant animatronic girl and elephant

this

seems

pretty

cool

to

me

these cars are sewn together

posted by Benjamin @ 21.5.06 2 comments

posted by Benjamin @ 19.5.06 0 comments

Apple Store Fifth Avenue

posted by Benjamin @ 19.5.06 0 comments

It's a small world out here

posted by Benjamin @ 19.5.06 0 comments

MySpace: Design Anarchy That Works

The social-networking site is no looker, and the freedom it gives users leads to some pretty loud results. But that may be the secret to its success

It came late to the market -- so late, in fact, that by the time it launched, people were already declaring the product category dead. It offered no new technology -- virtually every feature of the site was an imitation of something someone else had already done. It looked amateurish, lacking even the most basic level of visual consistency and appeal, never mind the high-gloss polish of its venture-backed competitors.

It seemed like an also-ran. But in less than two years it built up a community of more than 20 million users. And then it sold for half a billion dollars. The site is MySpace, a social-networking space where people connect with their friends and make new ones as they share their interests and personalities through the blogs, photos, comments, video, and audio they post. MySpace has developed a particular appeal for young people because the site makes it especially easy for bands to set up pages to communicate with their fans. Today, the statistics are staggering: 43 million users so far, 150,000 new ones every day. Ten percent of all advertising impressions across the entire Internet happen on MySpace -- twice as many page views as Google. And in the wake of its recent acquisition, MySpace's growth has only accelerated. HEAD SCRATCHER. Although MySpace has become an integral part of daily life for its mostly teenage users, only recently has it garnered the attention of those over 30. What caught their attention was the person who bought it: Rupert Murdoch. But when the grown-ups came around to see what Murdoch's News Corp. thought was worth $580 million, they generally ended up scratching their heads. Half a billion dollars? For that? By any measure of product innovation -- technology, functionality, design -- MySpace seemed to fall way short. MySpace won't be winning any design awards. There's nothing cutting-edge about its look -- in fact, the best elements of the design would have fit right in among commercial sites around 1997. But some key contributors to its success can be found in the design choices MySpace has made. GO FOR IT. The bulk of the site -- the millions of user profiles created by its community -- is unfettered design chaos. MySpace permits users to do almost anything to the look of their profile pages, and the prevailing aesthetic is decidedly "more is more": more color, more animation, more typefaces, more sound, more of everything makes a better profile page. User pages on MySpace can look truly hideous (and many, many of them do), but the site's operators aren't trying to help users make their pages look better. If they were, they might offer some pre-built page design templates or color schemes, or even constrain the design choices users have. Instead, the system allows users to do almost anything to the look of their pages, whether it's a good idea or not. Regardless of its aesthetic consequences, this customizability is one of the site's most attractive features, and the do-it-yourself sensibility of the site resonates with the audience's desire for self-expression. BOUNDARY BREAKER. Even those areas that can't be customized show little more design sophistication than the user pages. If the default presentation and the common areas of MySpace had cleaner, more professional designs, users might hesitate to customize their spaces, feeling intimidated by having their amateur design work side-by-side with the professional-looking defaults. Instead, the unpolished style invites users to try things out, telling them they don't have to be professional designers to participate. The unrefined look of MySpace sends another message to users: We're like you. You're not a designer, and neither are we. We're not here to show off our design skills, we're here to connect. When a user first joins, they will have at least one friend in their social network by default: Tom, the site's founder. Throughout, MySpace knocks down the distinction between the people who run the site and the people who participate. You'll never be isolated on MySpace, because the site's operators are your friends. WHAT USERS WANT. The real mystery is whether MySpace did any of this on purpose. To a Web professional, it looks like something of an accidental success, with features piled on top of features, and no visible evidence of a master plan behind them. And maybe that's O.K. The MySpace team has demonstrated over and over again that they're in tune with their audience by focusing on features that really matter to users. The visual sensibility of MySpace shows that they also understand what doesn't matter to their audience -- their design is as good as it has to be, and no more. And crafting a site experience that acknowledges both what users care about and what they don't may be the smartest design strategy of all.

posted by Benjamin @ 18.5.06 2 comments

Really enjoying this book right now

posted by Benjamin @ 17.5.06 0 comments

"The world is a tool I use to change myself" ~Ian Decour

posted by Benjamin @ 16.5.06 0 comments

"Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest." ~Mark Twain

posted by Benjamin @ 16.5.06 0 comments

i got a myspace

i don't like how cluttery it always is though. or the adds but feel free to check it out

posted by Benjamin @ 16.5.06 2 comments

In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. ~Carl Sagan

posted by Benjamin @ 15.5.06 3 comments

posted by Benjamin @ 14.5.06 1 comments

Two Wolves

posted by Benjamin @ 14.5.06 0 comments

I've been away for two weeks to Northern Cal. I've been washing carpets at a guest resort there. in exchange for my work i said i wanted use of the carpet cleaning machine till Sept. The biggest thing now is going to be keeping that machine busy cleaning carpets.

i had i blow out on the freeway in that one-ton van on the way back.

i made it all the way to Medford for the weekend but wasn't able to visit all you Portlander's and see Josh come in. i had to get back here to see Janice. Which didn't happen. major bummer.

i threw up for the first time since i was in 3rd grade. they don't call it crazy chicken for nothing.

posted by Benjamin @ 14.5.06 3 comments

the gods have spoken

posted by Benjamin @ 11.5.06 0 comments

If I should meet thee After long years, How should I greet thee? - With silence and tears - Lord Byron. English Romantic poet and satirist, 1788-1824

posted by Benjamin @ 11.5.06 0 comments

posted by Benjamin @ 9.5.06 1 comments

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. German Playwright, Poet, Novelist and Dramatist. 1749-1832

posted by Benjamin @ 9.5.06 2 comments

A very interesting post from Marisa's Blog

PLEASE READ THIS! The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, 12/18/05:Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart: I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important? I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife. Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.Next confession: I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees. It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away. I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat. Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering whereNick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to. In light of the many jokeswe send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke, it'snot funny, it's intended to get you thinking.Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her "How could God let something like this Happen?" (regarding Katrina). Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, "I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the Great God that He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?"In light of recent events...terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found recently) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school . The Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK. Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide).We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said OK. Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves. Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a greatdeal to do with "WE REAP WHAT WE SOW." posted by Riss at 7:35 AM 6 comments

posted by Benjamin @ 7.5.06 0 comments

posted by Benjamin @ 7.5.06 0 comments

posted by Benjamin @ 3.5.06 6 comments